Balanga vies for Seal of Good Local Governance

BALANGA CITY, Bataan – Delegates from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has evaluated the Balanga City government which is seeking to win another Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) Award, the top citation for exemplary administration in local government.

City Planning and Development Office chief Elsa Ilagan assisted the evaluators throughout the validation process that, if it succeeds, will pave the way for Balanga to get an incentive fund called the Performance Challenge Fund which can be used for the implementation of local projects.

Various sites were inspected on the June 8 visit including schools, materials recovery facilities, and barangay disaster warning systems. Daily operations of the City Public Safety Office and the City Hall annex were also assessed.

City department heads and focal persons presented their programs, specifically under the areas of finance, disaster preparedness, education, social welfare, health, peace and order, business, environment, culture and the arts, and barangay affairs.

Although the inspection was the first to be conducted under his term, Mayor Francis Anthony Garcia expressed optimism that the city will get high marks from DILG.

In 2014, DILG scaled up the Seal of Good Housekeeping award into the SGLG which, it stated, was introduced to provide greater challenge to local government units to continue good governance practices while providing better services.

To become an SGLG recipient, an LGU needs to pass all three core assessment areas: Good Financial Housekeeping, Social Protection, and Disaster Preparedness; and at least one from the essential assessment areas: Business-Friendliness and Competitiveness, Peace and Order, or Environmental Management.